Sen Kamala Harris' sponsored The MORE Act/bill passes House.(decriminalize marijuana)

[Budi]

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2227


*Sponsor: Sen. Harris, Kamala D. D-CA (Introduced 07/23/2019)
*Committees: Senate - Finance
*Latest Action: Senate - 07/23/2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

COSPONSORS:

Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]* 07/23/2019
Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]* 07/23/2019
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]* 07/23/2019
Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA]* 07/23/2019
Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] 09/26/2019
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] 09/09/2020
Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] 09/10/2020

*********************

Summary: S.2227 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)

Introduced in Senate (07/23/2019)
Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 or the MORE Act of 2019

This bill decriminalizes marijuana.


Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana.

The bill also makes other changes, including the following:

*replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis,
*requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees,
*establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs,
*imposes a 5% tax on cannabis products and requires revenues to be deposited into the trust fund,
*makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers,
*prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions,
*prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction), and
*establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses.
**********


HOWEVER from CNN:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/12/04/politics/house-vote-more-act-marijuana-legislation/index.html

SNIP
The House bill was introduced by Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler last July.

"I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake, and the racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only compounded this mistake, with serious consequences, particularly for communities of color," Nadler said in a statement Friday before the vote.

California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, now the vice president-elect, has introduced a companion bill in the Senate, but it has been stuck in the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee.

President-elect Joe Biden supports decriminalizing marijuana and the automatic expungement of prior criminal records for marijuana possession, but not full legalization of the substance, a Biden campaign spokesman said last year.
MORE...


https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s2227

The Georgia runoff race is key to a much better world.